Arts & Entertainment
Matthew Rotjan of Hillsdale, Featured Conductor
InterSchool Orchestras of New York Announces 2019-2020 Season, Featuring Matthew Rotjan of Hillsdale, Conductor of Morningside Orchestra
![Matthew Rotjan, Conductor, ISO Morningside Orchestra](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/2304811/20190605/102522/styles/patch_image/public/matthew-rotjan-conductor-iso___05102222201.jpg)
New York City…The InterSchool Orchestras of New York (ISO), a nonprofit organization, has announced its 2019-2020 Season in New York City with a stellar line up of conductors. ISO serves more than 250 school-aged children and provides a nurturing environment where all children can realize their personal best, achieve high artistic standards, and share music with the community. Generous financial aid and scholarships ensure that every child can participate.
“We look forward to an extraordinary new season of music thanks to our multi-talented conductors and staff. We are starting the year with a Tribute to Howard Johnson and Gravity at Merkin Hall and have new commissions by Daniel Felsenfeld, Huang Ruo, and Arturo O’Farrill for youth orchestra. We will be doing exciting partnerships with the New York Chinese Cultural Center, Mingus and Ballet Hispanico as well as community concerts at Kumble Theater at LIU and a PhilarMonster in Brooklyn Heights and a 50th Anniversary of Earth Day Celebration with the Trinity Church Youth Chorus. We are so excited to be leading the field in cross-cultural, multi-dimension genre works for youth orchestra. The students will remember these performances for their entire lives,” said Karen Geer, ISO Executive Director.
New York City children make music together through four tiered level orchestras. The ISO conductors for the 2019-2020 Season include: Barry Stern, Conductor, ISO Symphony Orchestra; Joseph Meyers, Conductor, ISO Concert Orchestra; Steven Rochen, Conductor, ISO Carnegie Hill Orchestra and Matthew Rotjan, Conductor, ISO Morningside Orchestra. Matt Hart is the ISO Production Manager and Assistant Conductor, and Anthony Morris, ISO alumnus, is the ISO Managing Director.
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Matthew Rotjan, Conductor, ISO Morningside Orchestra
Matthew Rotjan, Ed.D, a resident of Hillsdale, NJ, will lead the ISO Morningside Orchestra in the 2019-2020 Season. He is a music educator committed to cultivating excitement and enthusiasm in music and music education. He recently joined the faculty of the Scarsdale Public Schools (NY), where he is on staff teaching orchestra at Scarsdale Middle School. Prior to this position, Dr. Rotjan taught in the South Orangetown Central School District (NY), where he taught grades 3-8 string lessons and orchestra classes.
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His work as a conductor with the ISO Morningside Orchestra has led him to conduct in Trinity Church, Symphony Space, and Carnegie Hall. With a strong commitment to community music making, he is the co-founder/conductor of the Rockland Youth Orchestra, a not-for-profit organization in Rockland County (NY). He has been invited to present his research, pedagogical practice, and philosophy at colleges and universities throughout the east coast and has twice been named a Quaterfinalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award.
Dr. Rotjan earned his doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he served as a music teacher supervisor, applied music instructor, research assistant, and cooperating teacher. Degrees are from Ithaca College (B.M.) in Music Education and Performance (cello) and Teachers College, Columbia University (M.A., Ed.M., Ed.D.) in Music and Music Education.
The ISO Morningside Orchestra is a full orchestra that includes strings, winds and brass. It motivates young musicians to work together to make music. Repertoire ranges from age-appropriate original compositions to standard classical works arranged for young players. The orchestras for young people provide a strong grounding in fundamental and necessary orchestral concepts in a community-oriented and goal-centered environment.
Barry Stern, Conductor, ISO Symphony Orchestra
Barry Stern, a resident of Oceanside, NY, will lead the ISO Symphony Orchestra in the 2019-2020 Season. He is in his first season as conductor of the Concert Orchestra after three seasons with the Turtle Bay Orchestra, and is an alumnus of the ISO Symphony, having been in the orchestra from 1985 – 1987 under the tutelage of Music Director Emeritus, Jonathan Strasser. He currently serves as Principal Conductor of the All City High School Orchestra, and is the orchestra director at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton High School. As a violist, Mr. Stern has collaborated and performed with artists such as Quincy Jones, Mark Wood, Tevin Campbell, and Sarah Brightman. He is the founding conductor of NYC’s Summer Arts Institute String Studio, meeting at Frank Sinatra High School for the Arts in Astoria.
A recognized curriculum development specialist, he is a co-author of the New York City Department of Education’s Commencement Music Examination, and a lead facilitator for professional development for New York City music teachers. Prior to becoming a full time educator, Mr. Stern had been Director of Orchestral Operations at Manhattan School of Music and Director of the Bronx House School for the Performing Arts. He is a graduate of Lehman College (MAT), and the Manhattan School of Music (BM, MM), where he studied viola with Burton Kaplan and Karen Dreyfus, and conducting with David Gilbert and Jonathan Strasser.
The ISO Symphony is the top ensemble among ISO’s four major groups and one of the leading youth orchestras in the New York City area. Its alumni include musicians holding principal chairs in professional orchestras in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities. Several notable conductors are also among its alumni, including James Gaffigan (chief conductor, Lucerne Symphony, Switzerland) and Tito Muñoz (Music Director, Opéra national de Lorraine & Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy, France).
Joseph Meyers, Conductor, ISO Concert Orchestra
Joseph Meyers, a resident of the Upper West Side, Manhattan, will lead the ISO Concert Orchestra in the 2019-2020 Season. He joined the faculty of LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and the Performing Arts in the fall of 2001. He conducts many of the orchestras at the school, teaches chamber music and conducts many school productions including Les Miserables, West Side Story, Ragtime, Pirates of Penzance, The Sound of Music, Sweeney Todd and The Merry Widow. Mr. Meyers is currently the Coordinator of Instrumental Music at LaGuardia.
He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied ‘cello and ‘cello pedagogy with Marion Feldman. He formerly coached ‘cello for the Youth Orchestras of Essex County and for ISO’s Concert and Morningside Orchestras. He was an adjunct professor of New York University and Brooklyn College's Conservatory of Music. He has served as principal ‘cellist for PALA Opera Association, Queens Opera and the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts Ballet Series. As a chamber musician, he performed with the Cayenne Piano Trio, the First International Youth Music Festival of Bulgaria and Piano Trios in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The ISO Concert Orchestra is a youth orchestra for musicians with advanced-intermediate level technical and sight-reading skills. The ensemble performs annually in halls like Symphony Space, Lincoln Center and throughout New York City.
Steven Rochen, Conductor, ISO Carnegie Hill Orchestra
Steven Rochen, a resident of Riverdale, NY, will lead the ISO Carnegie Hill Orchestra in the 2019-2020 Season. He has based his career on teaching children to perform with expression and confidence. He conducts the ISO Carnegie Hill Orchestra and has served for more than two decades on the faculties of Third Street Music School, and the Meadowmount School of Music and was a long-time orchestra director and string teacher at Trinity School. He studied violin with Sally Thomas and Fredell Lack and studied conducting with Igor Buketoff. In 2008 he was appointed the Paul-Philippe Bolduc Fellow, with research trips to Berlin, Vienna, and Prague. He worked with the indie band The Baskervilles on their latest CD and also performs with his band The New Lost Faculty Ramblers.
The ISO Carnegie Hill Orchestra is a youth orchestra comprised of musicians at an intermediate level. This ensemble performs both original orchestrations and arrangements. Performances include concerts at Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, as well as community concerts and in-school assemblies.
Matt Hart, ISO Production Manager and Assistant Conductor
Matt Hart, a resident of Miller Place, NY, is the ISO Production Manager and Assistant Conductor, production manager for Choirs of America, and stage manager of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra during their 9-week summer season. He has worked with some of the outstanding names in music such as Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Joshua Bell. He has also worked with many prestigious orchestral conductors such as JoAnn Falletta, Rossen Milanov, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Gemma New, in addition to choral conductors such as Anton Armstrong, Andre Thomas, and Z Randall Stroope. Most recently he completed his first tour with the Silkroad Ensemble on their Southeast tour as a production assistant and back line technician.
During his first four years at the Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM), he pursued a degree in Music Education. While at ACSM, he was the president of the NAfME Chapter 504. He managed the 1,000 piece performance collection while simultaneously being the librarian for the Queens College Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Orchestra. As a trumpet player, he performed with many of the ensembles at ACSM including the Queens College Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Big Band, Chamber Orchestra and Undergraduate Big Band.
Anthony Morris, ISO Managing Director
Anthony Morris, a resident of Co-op City in the Bronx, is the ISO Managing Director and an ISO alumnus. He has been Principal Auxiliary and has toured internationally with The New York Philharmonic from 1999 to 2006 under the batons of Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. From 2007 to the present, Mr. Morris plays extensively with The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. When he is not playing with NJSO, he is working on Broadway shows such as Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera, along with other numerous orchestras in the Tri-State area. Mr. Morris is also an instructor at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. He holds a B.M.A. from Manhattan School of Music and an M.M.A. from The Juilliard School of Music. He has studied with internationally renowned musicians such as Eugene Levinson, Paul Ellison, and Bruce Bransby. He has been a low string coach since 2010.
InterSchool Orchestras of New York
Founded in 1972 and incorporated in 1974, the InterSchool Orchestras of New York (ISO) began with a single orchestra of 20 children. Today, ISO serves more than 250 children, creating opportunities for school-aged children in New York City to make music together through four tiered level orchestras. ISO provides a nurturing environment where all children can realize their personal best, achieve high artistic standards, and share music with the community. The ensembles perform in major concert halls, schools and community centers, bringing great music to over 7,000 people annually. Generous financial aid and scholarships ensure that every child can participate. For more information, please visit http://isorch.org/.